andys

Well apprently XH558 is now sat at the end of the runway at Bruntingthorpe ready to do her first engine test runs of the year priory to a visit to cosford over the weekend

Simon C

Bugger, and not at the parents. I'd be under the flightpath

Leslie

Glad to hear that.

Les

Leslie

They had 7 brand new ones, as well as those which were in it I thought. Those engines used to do an incredible amount of hours before they needed a rebuild. Just dont want any birdstrikes though!

Les

Leslie

Thanks for that Nat. I know that 7 of the new ones were founded crated up at a Scrappy somewhere. What a disappointment to find all that corrosion. Bad news that they can't get them rebuilt. The cost of a rebuild would be pretty astronomical anyway unless they were helped out by the makers.

Well it looks like once they have got down to less than four that they can use-that will be the end of 558 in the air!

Les

Billgtt

I read on the Flypast forum that the three engines with corrosion have been inspected by Rolls Royce, and cleared as fine to use for flight.

Kuohu

Does anyone have a schedule for Cosford tomorrow? I've looked on their website but it doesn't say when things are happening. TIA.

Leslie

Thats a relief then.

Les

Snazy

Vulcah is on the Biggin Hill schedule for their air show, so hope for everyones sake it makes it.

Good news on the engines

stuart n

A friend of mine is working at the biggin Hill airshow office and they were swamped with ticket orders after she flew last week.
If you are planning to go to biggin i'd advise you to order tickets now

Snazy

I wont be in the country for the BH air show sadly, but dont go in anyway. I go to a nice place I know in the woods lol

stuart n

Yeah, I've heard she's only actually landing at 5 venues this season to keep the engine cycles down.
A shame but at least she's flying

Leslie

When I used to go to Biggin as a lad, there is a big hole before the runway threshold and the Spitfires etc always used to fly down into it, disappear and then climb out. I was ever so impressed and when I first did a Chipmunk display in the London UAS aircraft there, I could not wait to do the same. The only problem was that I found too late that the Chippie did not have enough power to climb out of the hole again so I had to fly around in a circle until it climbed high enough! How embarassing! Served me right I suppose.

I found the Vulcan had no problem though.

Les

stuart n

From what I've read she'll fly into RIAT on the Saturday display and then land.
She'll take off on the Sunday, display and then depart. That was the plan last year and at the moment it looks like the case again this year. So if you want to see her take off you may need to go to RIAT on the Sunday.

astraboy

Les, Was there a coping point where once crossed you had to take some flak from your superiors over your airborne antics?

The only reason I ask is the casual nature you mention these incidents seems very well practiced, I'm thinking this might be the reason why

C'mon old chap, spill the beans
Astraboy.

Turbo2

She's due off over the channel to Volkel airshow in Holland this week!

My Dad had an inkling that she may do Paris Airshow at the weekend too, but he's wrong about most things....

If you check out the following link, there are many events lined up as long as she stays fit and healthy, so many of us should get to see her somewhere this summer.

Vulcan to the Sky Trust - Avro Vulcan Bomber XH558 - Vulcan To The Sky Trust

Leslie

There were laid down regulations about minimum heights and distance away from the crowd line etc. Things like the crowd distance and flying over the crowd at low level were sensible and no one with any sense would bust those. As far as other regs were concerned there was a bit if leeway as long as you were not stupid about it.

One inviolate rule was that you were not allowed to roll a Vulcan, even though it was perfectly easy to do. If you did, as a couple of blokes did-that would be the last display you ever did! Just not worth the candle.

There was nothing to stop you going fully inverted at the top of a wing over for example, which was a far more comfortable way to stop it going too high than pushing negative G. You just made sure you rolled out in the opposite direction. People would be watching for that!

Everything else was fair game as long as you were not seen to be getting dangerous and you would rightly be on the carpet if you were. There is a degree between pushing the limits a bit and being silly! The man who crashed one in the USA and all were killed was the ultimate example.

On my last display at Finningley I did the whole bit on the edge but not seriously beyond it and afterwards the top ranking man thanked me for it! Which was nice!

Les